


Crossing Oceans

by Tumbleweed_run



Category: Torchwood
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Episode: s02e13 Exit Wounds, Episode: s04e12 The Stolen Earth, Ianto leaves Torchwood, M/M, just differently, long live Ianto Jones, other canon events still occured, spoilers up to
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-03-04
Updated: 2018-08-05
Packaged: 2019-03-26 16:57:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 3,606
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13861968
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Tumbleweed_run/pseuds/Tumbleweed_run
Summary: After the events of 'The Stolen Earth' the countries of the world scramble to create their own Torchwoods.When the American government demands assistance setting up their own space defense administration, Ianto takes the opportunity to leave with his life.





	1. Prologue

Jack lost Ianto in the most surprising of ways.

Though it was Ianto, maybe it wasn’t that surprising.

No one died, there was no big fight between the two of them, no near-death experience that pushed the Welshman too far, and the world had been mostly alien free since it had been returned to its own solar system six weeks prior.

Instead, Jack lost Ianto through a matte black folder placed to the left of his morning coffee, atop the pile of ‘things to look at' Ianto presented him with every morning. There was nothing ominous or telling about the folder, so there was no reason for Jack to slide it across the desk, which was precisely what he did.

It was when Ianto swept into his office to discuss the budget (which Jack usually nodded and signed in all the right places for) and stopped dead with a small frown upon seeing the black folder pushed to the side. It was a pause that lasted only a fraction of a second, but it made Jack’s fingers twitch slightly around his coffee mug.

He finally opened the folder forty minutes later after spending that entire time glancing at the intrusion his desk every few seconds.

It was typed, it was formal, it was signed Ianto Jones in perfect script at the bottom.

It was a letter of resignation.

The lead weight in Jack’s stomach dropped straight through the floor and into his bunker below.

In Torchwood you either died young or you left, it made sense that Ianto Jones- a twenty-five-year-old who’d been with the organization for over four years- would cut his losses. But this wasn’t just Ianto Jones leaving Torchwood he was also leaving Jack.

It took three tries before Jack was able to read the letter of resignation in its entirety.

There was no need to worry about whether or not he could safely retcon Ianto’s years with Torchwood away. It appeared that Ianto, and the entire British government, needed the Welshman to retain those memories.

Because of course, Ianto wouldn’t just leave to subject himself to a normal everyday human existence.

In the wake of the Medusa Cascade incident, the governments who had never bothered themselves with a space defense agency were scrambling to set them up. It seemed every country now wanted a Torchwood because UNIT was too general, to spread out to be deemed truly effect.

It was the American’s who would be receiving Ianto Jones. They had been one of the first countries to contact the UK parliament, not in the same adorably polite way as the Canadians but rather in their unique brash and demanding way. Not even a full week after the Earth had been returned to its rightful space did the American’s begin their insistent demand for any and all resources and knowledge that UNIT and the UK might have.

“What’ll you be doing?” Jack asked later that night at Ianto’s flat as he watched the Welshman heat their dinner.

Ianto’s shrug was seamlessly incorporated into the most graceful dance around the small kitchen. “Helping them set up their space defense administration.”

Jack winced slightly at the ease in which Ianto said ‘leaving you.’ He covered it with a light chuckle, “first task, talk them out of that ridiculous name.”

Ianto’s gorgeous lips twisted into a small smile.

Gwen sobbed when they informed her, very much the way Jack wished he could. She begged and pleaded with Ianto, but when she recognized he would not be moved by her tears, she turned her attention to Jack. She pestered him for days begging him to do anything and everything in his power to keep him. Jack turned her away every time reminding her that this was Ianto’s decision.

The night before Ianto’s last day she came to him, hands on her hips and the fiercest look on her face.

“You’re just letting him go!” She wailed from the doorway of his office, effectively trapping him.

Jack sighed and dropped his head into his hands. “What do you want?” He asked both Gwen and the desk.

“For you to get your massive bloody head out of your arse!”  Gwen pounded the desk, apparently having moved closer. “He’s been in love with you forever if anyone could make him stay it’s you!”

Jack looked up with a broken laugh. “If he loved me we wouldn’t even be having this conversation, Gwen.”

Gwen’s face turned instantly soft. “Oh, Jack,” she breathed as she rushed around the desk to hug him.

It didn’t feel like Ianto’s last day as he’d already given them a strict timeline of the care and feeding of Torchwood’s residents (amusingly Gwen and Jack’s coffee times were listed on the very last page) Jack even followed Ianto home that night after sharing dinner with Gwen. She wept silently and hugged Ianto tightly on the plass for long enough people began to look at them.

It hit hardest when Jack walked into Ianto’s now barren flat; everything had already been packed an shipped off. Only the built-in shelves, an inflatable mattress, and two packed bags remained.

They hadn’t discussed the fact that Ianto had resigned not only from Torchwood but also from Jack life, and they wouldn’t that night either.

Instead, they popped the mattress.

It was Jack who drove Ianto to the airport six short hours later and kissed him in the parking garage with the same desperation as the night of Lisa’s rampage.

Please stay was on the tip of Jack’s tongue when the boarding call sounded but what he said was, “don’t be a stranger.”

Ianto smile was so tight it might have broken his jaw, Jack wasn’t sure. Just before Ianto turned to follow the other passengers he cautiously extended a hand towards Jack, a mirror of when he’d returned from Abaddon. This time Jack took his hand with his own.

“Thank you, sir,” Ianto said almost inaudibly, and then he was gone.  


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is one of those stories that came literally out of nowhere seeing as I haven't been doing anything in the TW fandom for a while.   
> But Ianto Jones cannot leave well enough alone.   
> I have and idea of where this is going but we'll see.

Only a month after Ianto left Torchwood the 456 stopped the children of the world.

America’s space defense program hadn’t been made official or public in any way. Not that Jack cared, or for once in his life read every email sent out by UNIT looking for mention of them. So when the children began their eerie chanting the American’s, just like every other country in the world, turned to their eyes to the UK. After the recent years, everyone had learned to blame anything and everything alien on them.

While Jack was being blown to pieces and subsequently rebuilding his entire body, Ianto was sitting in the basement of the NASA headquarters watching everything unfold.

He barely had an office, the United States’ government was (as always) having trouble deciding how much money they should allot their newest defense agency, let alone a real staff. There was no way he could assist any real agency in searching for the reason why their children were chanting.

His first instinct had been to return to Wales, to make sure Rhiannon and the children were safe but after the second round of chanting he knew he’d never be allowed to leave the country.

So instead he stayed in his basement office forgotten in his entirety by the very people who had hired him and watched as a pillar of fire struck the Thames House. He stayed late into the night reading all communications coming and going from UNIT and steadfastly refused to believe the reports that Torchwood was officially dead.

No matter how horrific the crater looked, Jack couldn’t die.

Despite the hundreds of UNIT emails coming and going Ianto was still in the dark, forced to sit by helplessly and watch as governments began rounding up children. Then suddenly it was over.

At first Ianto didn’t know how it ended, though when he finally reached out weeks later he wished he never did. What he did know was that an alien invasion targeting the world’s children suddenly meant the government has millions of dollars to throw his way.

He spoke personally with the president two weeks after.

The move to New Mexico followed only a month later.

The first thing Jack noticed when he dragged himself back to Wales after his drunken world tour (not really a world tour if you skip the entirety of North America though…) was that the United State’s ‘Space and Extraterrestrial Defense Department’ was a slightly more tolerable name than ‘Space Defense Administration.’

At first, everything coming out of SEDD was signed by Ianto, Gwen’s excitement when that first email came onto their servers nearly sent her into labor. Just as Jack was getting used to the sharp pain whenever he saw Ianto’s name it was replaced by someone with the title of ‘SEDD Communication’s Director.’ A whole new pain wormed it’s way into Jack’s heart that day.

SEDD quickly became the shining model of properly run defense programs, the UK and Torchwood were still lying very low on the world’s stage effectively having become the black sheep of the family. Everyone blamed them. They were right to.

It took only five years for the UK to ask for Ianto, who was officially now the director of SEDD, to come home and rebuild Torchwood’s policies. Gwen, who was now officially head of Torchwood (because of Jack’s lingering disgrace and frequent disappearances), spent four days in a whirlwind of emotions. On the one hand Ianto was always dear to her heart and would be welcome with open arms, on the other she was rebuilding Torchwood- this was her legacy.

On the fifth day, Ianto politely refused but instead personally emailed several files full of helpful ‘suggestions’ directly to Gwen’s Torchwood email.

She responded with a smiley face.

In five years neither of them had reached out to one another, this was the first personal communication, and Gwen’s silly emoticon usage on a government email lifted Ianto’s mood for days.

Torchwood slowly rebuilt and one day Gwen found herself emailing all of the other space defense agencies of their new (old) location, back beneath Roald Dahl Plass. Director Jones of SEDD received a personalized email including a particular photo of a pterodactyl admiring her new roost. Ianto sent back an ancient file title ‘Care and Feeding of Myfanwy.’

Gwen cried for nearly an hour.

Torchwood became much of what it once was, and Jack slowly became himself again and stayed in the city for more than a few months at a time. There were moments when his mood would sour, and he’d become inexplicable angry. Usually, Gwen would find small reminder’s of Ianto were the trigger: take away coffees or Andy’s love of James Bond most often the culprit.

Their team was a little bigger, Gwen never told Jack that the alpha and beta teams had been Ianto’s idea not hers, but it still felt like a family.

Anwen and eventually Martha and Mickey’s son, Declan, loved Uncle Jack and would spend hours in his office coloring or horsing around when there were no major crises to attend to, Rhys was the unofficial Torchwood nanny for the times when an emergency did arise. Maybe not the way anyone imagined raising their child, but it worked for them.

Jack allowed himself to become attached to the team and, despite a few losses, Gwen never let him become cold or impersonal at work. Absolutely no work flings he told himself sternly every day no matter how gorgeous Emma’s, the beta team medic, eyes looked even in the harsh autopsy lighting. Allowing himself to become attached romantically was another story, he’d been down that road far too many times. Anytime anything got even remotely serious, because really Cardiff wasn’t a big enough city to continuously have one night stands in, he’d end it immediately.

Everything was going fine for Jack right up until nearly a decade after Ianto left Torchwood received an urgent message from SEDD requesting they come immediately for assistance.

Gwen was scheduling flights for them even as Jack was refusing to go without any other information.

“Well email them back and ask exactly why they need us so urgently!” Jack yelled while pacing behind Gwen who up until that moment gave no indication of having heard him.

Suddenly she whirled around in the chair, “Jack this came directly from Ianto, are you really going to refuse to go help him?”

They were on a flight headed for Albuquerque, New Mexico four hours later.


	3. Chapter 3

Mariah Harris was definitely not what either Jack or Gwen expected when they finally touched down almost twenty-four hours later. Neither of them had dared to voice their hope that they’d be seeing Ianto at the airport.

Mariah was barely twenty and, despite being well put together in a designer blouse and skirt, came across as an overeager puppy. She was waiting outside their gate looking just official enough that Jack wandered slowly towards her. The moment her eyes caught sight of them a grin permanently etched itself into her face.

“Captain Harkness!” She called chipperly as she crossed the floor to meet them.

Jack grimaced beside Gwen. “That would be I.”

“Fantastic, and you would be Ms. Cooper then, correct?” She asked with her hand outstretched toward Gwen before the question had fully formed into words.

“Gwen will do.” She insisted but never the less took the young girl’s hand.

“My name is Mariah Harris, I’m Director Jones’ personal assistant. He wishes to extend his regrets that he could not be here to greet you but there was a small emergency he needed to attend to.” It rushed out all in one breath, clearly scripted and rehearsed.

Jack put on his most dazzling grin, “You’re new at this aren’t you?”

The scarlet flush that graced Mariah’s cheeks nearly matched her blouse and her shoulder’s sagged “Yes sir, I only started a month ago, and we haven’t had any visitors yet.”

Gwen immediately felt for the girl and recognized her own eagerness from ages ago in her. “It’s alright, you’re doing fine."

Mariah’s shoulders lifted again. “Thank you, we should get going. It’s about a 90-minute drive.”

It was hot outside, a shock to their bodies since they’d left a wet and chilly Cardiff and been inside climate controlled buildings the entire way to the States. Gwen immediately felt a sweat break out on her brow line while Jack, seemingly unaffected, only pulled off his jacket.

It was Jack who asked once they were all loaded in a black SUV, one not too dissimilar to Torchwood’s except this one didn’t have their name on the side. “Not Roswell, right?”

Mariah’s laugh echoed in the car, “no, sir, there’s a small rift in New Mexico which stretches east from Gallinas Peak just about to route 54, we’re headquartered near there.”

Gwen fell asleep as soon as the SUV began moving whereas Jack leaned against the window watching the scenery. There wasn’t much as they made their way down route 54 but Mariah’s incessant babbling had thankfully stopped after the first five minutes. The only thing she hadn’t spoken about in that time was the exact reason why they were here, and that was getting on Jack’s nerves.

“So why exactly are we here?” He asked finally after about forty minutes.

Mariah nearly jumped out of her skin at the sudden intrusion. “I don’t have the specifics, sir, you’ll have to wait until we get to Director Jones.”

Jack sighed heavily and slumped back down into his seat, out of the corner of his eyes he saw Mariah chewing her lip nervously. It took less than a minute for her to finally decide on whatever it was she was considering.

“You worked with him right?” She asked with a quick sideways glance towards Jack.

Jack’s eyebrows shot up. “Yes.”

She didn’t ask for anything more on the subject.

They turned off into a tiny town just off the highway but instead of stopping they drove straight through and eventually ended up on an unpaved road where Gwen was jostled awake.

“Almost there,” Mariah assured them chipperly as she smiled through the rearview mirror at Gwen.

The car finally slowed to a stop out in the desert, before them was a small cinderblock building with two garage doors on the side surrounded by a simple chain-link fence there were a few unmarked vehicles parked outside. Mariah pushed a button on the SUV’s dashboard, and the gate rolled to the side, and one of the doors slid up slowly. As the SUV inched forward, Jack could see that the building was just large enough to accommodate the entrance to a subterranean road.

Gwen closed her eyes and leaned against the window as Mariah carefully drove them down the winding path. They’d gone down maybe fifty feet when she emerged in a decent sized unground parking garage.

“Sorry we usually just use the elevator, but the company cars get to park down here.” She said upon seeing Gwen’s slightly green face.

Jack was just as eager to climb out of the car. “Underground?” He asked and smiled knowingly over at Gwen.

Mariah nodded and pocketed the keys, oblivious to Jack’s smirk. “Saves on air conditioning.”

She led them over to a set of elevator doors that took a short code to open. “We’ll be going down another hundred feet,” she informed them as she pressed a button marked ‘main.’ The ride down seemed to take no time at all and door swung open to reveal something that looked more like an open office building than their own hub.

There were maybe five people working around desks and Jack could identify a few alien devices laid out in front of them. He wondered if they knew what they were working on.

Ianto was still nowhere to be seen.

A young man working at a computer closest to the door swiveled around in his chair. “Just got back,” he informed Mariah.

“Is he in his office?” She shifted almost uncomfortable as a few more people popped their heads up from their work.

At his nod, Mariah waved for Jack and Gwen to follow her. She led them through the desks and around a corner where a table covered by a chess board sat. Just down the hall a little beyond the turn was a door labeled “Director Jones.”

“If you’ll give me a moment I’ll let him know you’re here,” Mariah gestured at the chess table and chairs before walking towards the door.

Neither Jack nor Gwen sat. Instead, the two of them watched as she knocked and then waited. A muffled voice answered, barely audible to them but Mariah opened the door just wide enough to pass through and slipped in. It was now that Gwen sat down with a huff.

“What is it with you two, you always have to be dramatic.” She moaned kicking out her leg at Jack.

Jack raised an eyebrow. “Me? I haven’t even done anything.”

“No,” Gwen agreed, “but he no doubt picked up dark and cryptic from you.”

Jack shrugged away the notion with a small grin, he’d put money down that Ianto had been doing dark and cryptic since before he’d ever heard of Torchwood.

Mariah slipped back out the door much the way she’d gone in only three minutes before. “He’s on the phone and will be out in a minute,” she shifted on her feet looking uncomfortable, “in the meantime can I get you something to drink? Water? Coffee?”

“Water.” Jack didn’t hesitate.

Gwen gave him an odd look before nodding, “ a glass of water would be lovely, thanks.”

Jack didn’t need to look around to realize he was being watched, even Gwen could feel it and was fidgeting where she stood. Every pair of eyes in the room were on them, and all work had stopped. He ignored them, though, until Mariah returned with their waters and she was trailed by two people.

“So you two are from Torchwood,” a woman asked.

Jack looked at her and nodded, “Yes.”

A man was standing next to her, talk and broad-shouldered with short blond hair… exactly the kind of man he would have shamelessly chased if they’d been in a bar in Cardiff. When Jack confirmed where they were from his face lit up with glee.

“Really? Like actually Torchwood?” He asked with such a thick southern accent Jack’s knees considered giving out.

Jack nodded again.

“So you worked with him then?” The southern accent asked while the two women exchanged almost worried glances.

“Uh… yeah.” Gwen answered.

In a flurry of motion, the remaining three workers appeared suddenly around them, all eyeing them excitedly. In a rush of quiet voices they all, except for Mariah, began asking questions at a rapid pace.

“What was he like?” Was the most repeated question and when they realized they were all speaking over each other and quieted down with sheepish looks that was the question Gwen chose to answer.

“Well, he was… well actually do you know? You lot have probably worked with him longer than we had.”

“That’s it I called it,” the southern accent whooped, “he was a freaking assassin.”

“If I was,” A nearly familiar voice announced from down the hall, “you’d all certainly be dead.”

Every head whipped around to look at Ianto. Jack nearly dropped his water to the floor. Ianto was there,  actually standing not even ten feet away.

“This is exactly why we hired Mariah,” Ianto continued, hands stuffed into his pants pockets as he strolled down the short hallway. “I can’t trust any of you with visitors.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I haven't forgotten about this story, I promise. I've had this chapter sitting around for forever I just never got around to editing it.


End file.
